St. Landry democrat., 1887-09-03
HOW TO TELL YOUR SILVER.
Some Severe Ordeals to Which Makers of
Plate Are Compelled to submit.

Articles of plate are exempted from the
makers capricioUS desire to see his mark
upon his goods The GoIdsmith> Company.
associated as early as 1927, regularly incorpo-
rated seventy years late-. in the reign Of
Richard II. at present undertakes this duty.
KS the law now stands all articles of plate
manufactured in or near London must he
sent to Goldsmiths Hall to be tested and to
he marked. For this assay they receive from
the manufacturers fees amounting To some
SO, WQ or $50, 600 a year. and from the govern
ment a fixed salary for collecting the excise
duty on gold and silver and paving it into
the Bank of England. The aSSayerS cXerci e
their functions with skill ami mpartialitv
Small particles are sCraped OFT the goods to
be submitted to test. and these are duly
anal lived. The asSayers do not know and
are not allowed to know, from whose manll-
featured goods the particles have been
scraped off. but additional severity in the
test is adopted where any manufacturer is
found To have often sent goods below the
standard.
The marks adopted by the Gol,.smiths'
Hall are five III number, and each has its
own special significance. There is the
ereign' shead which indicates plainly enough
the reign. Next follows the lion PEASANT
this is the standard mark and is known to
Queen Elizabeth's reign. but was probably
introduced in Henry Wits. The price
mark is impressed next to it, and was fixed
by one of those numerous acts which were
passed in William HIS reign to regulate and
improve the condition of coinage. Two
other impressions remain unaccOunted for
One is the leopard's head, which is par ex-
cellence the Hall mark, and the other is the
makers mark. which, from long CUSTOM is
added to the remaining four. But the period
of the manufacture is not left to the mere
vagueness of the sovereign's reign. The
date letter. supplies the missing infOrma-
ton. Twenty letters of the alphabet are used
for this purpose, the series beginning with
the first emitting J. and terminating with U.
On the Both of May every letter is changed
and the shape Of the letter every twenty
years. Thus from 1896 to 1916 ordinary
capitals were employed The letter D would
indicate that the article passed the Gold
smiths Hall in 1899. With 1916 commenced
the series of small letters so that date
letter of d would fix the year as 1920. Old
English capitals followed till 1856, and the
next series commenced with small English
letters These various alphabets are Of very
old date the earliest commencing with the
year 43S. But though London is the chief
seat Of manufacture of plate in England,
there were other towns which had their own
assay offices and halls. Birmingham and
Sheffield did large trade and constant re-
lations were established between the local
hall and Foster lane. For this purpose
what was called "diet box passed at the
end of the year from the country town to
the capital. The assayer in Birmingham
scraped eight grains from every troy pound
Of manufactured plate. -Four Of these he at
once retained and assayed the other molety
was carefully deposited in the diet box,
which contained specimens from all the
articles manufactured. Once a year the box
was sent up to the capital The assay master
of the royal mint would then take fair
average of all the small portions it contained
and sOlemnly make his assay If the aver
age reached the standard, the local assayer
received a certificate if not, he was fined.
1t will thus be seen that there is clear
difference in theory between the marks on
plate and on china. The latter are impressed /
by the manufacturer, at his own choice and |
for his own benefit. The former are COM !
pulsory, undertaken by a monopolist com
pany, who are paid for their services, which |
the public are forced to accept at their hands. |
The distinction suggests not merely import |
ant privileges but grave duties We have |
seen within the last few years the taste for |
Queen Anne furniture and for antiquities of |
all kinds spread into the region of plate and !
silverware. Forthwith the curiosity shops |
seem to have been largely stocked with the |
rarest and most desirable pieces of old silver.
The connoisseur, naturally at once wary and |
confiding, has found security in the hall
mark. That secured the genuineness of what |
had become suspiciously plentiful And SO
with simple trust he bought largely and was
largely swindled. In some cases the marks .
were forged; in others genuine marks were /
inserted into modern plate. ImpOsture pro-
ceeded on so extensive scale that the Gold /
smiths company have at last awakened to
the Importance of the subject, and are re-
solved to put down the imposture. 1t is well
to get this assurance even now. But it comes
rather late. In their own interests in the
interest of the public, and as a slight duty
arising from a substantial privilege, the
Goldsmiths' company should long ago have
shown this activity.-Jepelry Neps